"All this predictability is becoming tiresome"

Yes, but if nothing else it should be a useful warning to anyone who happens to be gay in Manchester (or elsewhere) just how precarious their position in society really is.

While there may well be gay orientated bars and festivals and homosexuality is generally tolerated and can be displayed openly the undercurrent of hate remains, and it wouldn't take much for the boot boys and self appointed moralists to once again use violence or the law against them.